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Come Back, Little Sheba
By William Inge
Directed by David Cromer
Produced by Shattered Globe Theatre
At Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theatre
2257 N. Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL
Call 773-871-3000, tickets $20 - $35
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 3 PM
Running time is 2 hours with intermission
Through October 21, 2006
''Most alcoholics,'' Doc tells Lola, ''are disappointed men who drink to forget the past.'' He also tells her, ''If you can't forget the past, you can't get out of it.''
Inge’s classic in good hands in Shattered Globe production
William Inge’s most popular play, Come Back, Little Sheba (1950) was a tour de force for Shirley Booth. Director David Cromer’s tight and emotionally wrenching production is a showcase for the immense talents of Linda Reiter and John Judd as Lola and Doc Delaney.
With an authentic 1950 set designed by Kevin Hagen that has a living room and a green wood paneled kitchen complete with an old gas stove, small refrigerator and a working sink. The living room boasts an old-time council radio and a large couch. We know we are back in the late 1940’s.
The play deals with Doc (John Judd), a recovering alcoholic who has been dry for almost a year. He is pleasant, accommodating and formal while Lola (Linda Reiter), his lonely wife stuck in the past and their border, Marie (Maggie Corbett), a vivacious art student whose sexual encounters fuels the drama. Lola is stuck in a loveless marriage with Doc for twenty-five years since she got pregnant by Doc at age eighteen out of wedlock. Her family disowned her after her shotgun marriage. Doc started drinking after Lola lost the baby and Lola escaped into shattered fantasies of romantic dreams. Lola is mired in the past.
Both her and Doc try to father and mother Marie, the lusty young art student who has sex with a stud athlete, Turk (Jayce Ryan). Marie is a free spirit determined to have her sexual play before settling down in a marriage. We see that Doc has conservative, even puritanical morals about sex and he wishes Marie to behave correctly. There are hints that Doc may have a ‘thing’ for the young beauty. Lola is living her failed dreams and vicariously sharing Maria’s sexual adventures. She sneaks a look at Marie and Turk (in short gym trunks) as the two reek of sexuality.
Doc discovers that Marie has shacked-up with Turk overnight and his shattered image of young female innocence is verified. He turns back into the bottle as his escape from more broken dreams. The dramatic drunken scenes are powerful and scary as John Judd’s Doc turns into a nasty, violent drunk. Linda Reiter’s steady, measured Lola slowly unfolds her loneliness and her desperation as she constantly leans out the door and shouts: “Come Back, Little Sheba” in desperate hope that her long gone puppy will come running into her arms.
This groundbreaking domestic drama set the stage for realistic kitchen sink plays to follow. William Inge dramatizes the emotional struggles of ordinary people as they suffer from loveless marriages that make life dreary trapping the victims in their past glories. This play may be a tad dated but David Cromer’s pacing builds the tension to explode garnering all the emotional pain contained. We empathize with Lola as most of us know someone just like her. Shattered Globe once more demonstrates why they are one of Chicago’s finest Equity theatre companies. This is a terrific play.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: September 17, 2006
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